Chapter 14: Returning to the Village
Zar, now carrying kilograms of seed sacks begun crawling his way back to the village. “These damn seeds are far too heavy, why does that Senior have so many? Given the beauty of his abode he sure as heavens must be rich. His vegetable stand did not have the most extravagant appearance however, how mysterious. Perhaps that Po is someone who I can make a friend out of.” Other such thoughts whirled in Zar's mind as he attempted to put one foot in-front of the other, “even with the added strength from Mineral Qi, these sacks of seeds are still very costly to carry. Well, I must make do! A challenge to myself!” With such motivation, one foot in front of the other became a mantra is Zar’s mind as he progressed from the Central Village, past where he met the boy, and toward the location at which he jumped through the fields to reach the main pathway unnoticed. 168Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZiU08JVeo
“Ahh, I am finally here.” Zar thought to himself, he put the seed sacks down and looked around, again, fields upon fields, so fertile looking, little weeds or grass growing... “The Ploughing Sect deserve their name, to cultivate fields so well with little weeds or random grassy patches is most admirable. Grass huh... Grass? GRASS?! AHH, I FORGOT THE GRASS SEEDS!” Zar looked back realising how far he had come, “Another time I suppose, I hope my sister will not be upset with me.”
Zar looked around again to ensure no one was looking and proceeded into the forest and vegetation, taking the same route back to the east gate of his own village, The Giath Sect. As he approached the gate, he saw a faint outline of one of his own villagers, some excitement occurred within Zar as he realised only now that he had been successful in his task. Zar sped up a little toward the gate and called to the outlined figure, the outlined figure turned around with streaks of red bouncing around as the sun rays bounced off the hair of the outlined figure.
“Grand Elder Zar! Is that you?” Asked the figure.
“Yes, it is I dear Brother. Help me with these hefty sacks...” Zar enclosed and saw who the villager was, it was one of the Greater Brothers.
“Just a moment Grand Elder, I must notify the villagers – one of those two guards toward the north has been observing us with great intensity, not to worry, all I need do is send a signal and the villagers will distract him, we have been awaiting your arrival.” The Greater Brother produced a hand signal, distant figures altered their body language in reply and begun walking toward the north gate. Zar taking note asked...
“They are going to talk to that guard?”
“Something like that, yes. He started talking to us first so we have returned the favour, his Chief Guard keeps telling him off for conversing with us but that does not stop him!” Zar was now right next to the Greater Brother, a fence-gate stood in their way, he handed the Greater a few sacks before jumping over the gate, himself – they both then proceeded to the cellar to deposit the seeds.
Within the cellar, Zar took his clothes off and looked for some cloth to wear – he placed his well-knitted clothes in the corner of the cellar, perhaps for use another time. The Greater and Zar left the cellar together talking keenly about the seeds and Zar’s travels. Awaiting outside of the cellar was Tar, Pam and May, all anxious to hear of Zar’s journey and whether he was okay.
“How’d it go?” Asked Tar to Zar, who was now saying goodbye to the Greater who seemingly had other plans.
“It went brilliant, I have learnt much – after the villagers finish with the guard yonder, order the villagers for a meeting this evening, we will eat together, and I will talk to you of my short travels.”
“Goody!” May said aloud, Pam nodding along.
Time passed...
It was the evening of Thursday, potatoes, or rather, vitatoes were cooking in the clay brick oven whilst all the villagers sat around a warming fire to fight off the bitter winds of a cool summer nightfall. There was much idle chatter of random topics, but all were eager to hear of Zar’s travels and perhaps his next steps as the village leader.
After supper was finished and some were groaning due to overeating, which was suddenly easy to do, Zar stood up and began talking.
“Dear Brothers and Sisters, here I present you my messages for today...”
“Ah, this brings back memories of the Oldman when he was alive!” Semi-whispered Pam to Lam, for they were sitting together as always.
“I travelled with the help of my dear Sisters to the Ploughing Sect under a disguise, by the wills of the Gods, our hair becomes orange under certain conditions – this proved immensely useful for I was unrecognised. From the east gate, I travelled through some vegetation and forestry and reached some pathways which led either toward Ploughing Sect Central, or away. I had to travel for some time however to reach a reasonable spot to hop on the pathway.
When I could, I went toward the Central Village with the help of directions from a young boy. Reaching the Central Village, I was enthralled by the activity and colourful stands of freshly grown vegetables and fruit. It was quite something... I was called by an old man, his name was Po, we spoke on things. He told me the following...” Zar went on to relay what he had learnt... “After this, we went to his abode, he lives quite well, he ate the vitatoe-” Tar burst out into laughter at the stupidity of the name, Zar recovered his posture after the seeming humiliation and continued his story. “Anyway, ignoring that interruption, after consumption of our produce, he went straight to bed and awoke feeling several times younger – herein I can confirm that our potatoes contain Mineral Qi and this flows through the bodies of others filling them with a small amount of the force, causing them youth and vitality – repaired bones and healthy cells.”
The villagers in unison “ahhh’d” at the discovery that when a crop is imbued with Mineral Qi, it holds that Mineral Qi, it made sense of a lot of things and was now at-least confirmed through external testing. “He now wants a supply of the potatoes in exchange for either coin or trade, for which I traded him seeds – all but forgetting the grass seeds... Apologies Sister-” Pam glared viciously at Zar and Zar jumped a little having to regain his composure, May and the other villagers laughed. “We now have Dear Villagers, the following stock:
Rice
Barely
Cabbage
Spinach
Corn
Broccoli
Potatoes
They are all sitting in our cellar which we need to increase the size of, on the morrow, we are going to plant the cabbage since it will grow with some rapidity, and we need the nutrients from the cabbage, we will plant a row, i am concerned by how quickly they may grow...”
“That is nothing to be concerned about!” Said one of the villagers.
“True, true.” Zar replied, “we are doing well for food now and this will not be a worry, I suggest we work on continuing to harvest clay for clay bricks at the site we have been using, let us rebuild our village and fill our bellies, when Monday arrives, I will teach those who wish to learn, the Art of Cultivation.”
The villagers begun clapping by tradition, it was a quiet clap, to show admiration and gratitude. Following, people departed with joy in their hearts for bed, as did Zar and his close family. Zar had much on his mind, there was seemingly so much to do. “One foot ahead of the other I suppose...” He thought to himself, “i didn’t want to tell them about the Lions and Serpents Sect, another time... Another time...” With that saddening private thought, the day came to an end.
End of Chapter 14.
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